


"Before The Ship Goes Down"

by talesyoutellyourfriends



Category: The Orville (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-04
Updated: 2018-01-20
Packaged: 2019-01-29 14:14:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 5,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12632742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talesyoutellyourfriends/pseuds/talesyoutellyourfriends
Summary: The crew's strength is put to the test in a situation that may turn to tragedy when the Orville takes severe damage from an unknown source...





	1. Chapter 1

                The Orville jerked.

                “What the hell is going on?” Captain Ed Mercer called out as alerts rang out. “Engineering report!” Captain Mercer called over the coms.

                “Everything is shot! There’s no power going to any of the key systems.” Chief John LaMarr replied. Racing to the bridge of the ship, with Yaphit taking over in the engine room.

                “Navigation is gone.” Ensign Jacoby reported checking the systems, just as Chief LaMarr arrived to switch places with the Ensign.

                “Damn it so is helm control.” Gordon Malloy confirmed. “It’s like we’re under attack but there’s nothing out there.”

                “Captain, all the critical systems appear to be failing. I am unable to get a response.” Isaac confirmed.

                “We’re being ripped apart. The Orville isn’t going to be able to take much more of this.” Alara Kitan confirmed as the ship felt as it was being dragged down by gravity.

                “We’re past the point of no return. If we don’t get the controls back online we’re done for. The gravity of the planet is pulling us in, hard.” Commander Kelly Grayson warned.             

                “That’s even if the hull of the ship survives that long. We’ll burn up long before then.” Gordon shot back as the ship made a loud metal creaking noise.

                “Oh my god, we’re going to crash.” Commander Grayson pointed out, gripping tightly to arm of her chair.

                “Bortus open a channel to the entire ship.” Captain Mercer ordered. Bortus nodded and opened the channel.  Captain Mercer addressed the crew of the ship. “Attention crew, this is Captain Mercer, the ship is going down. It repeat the ship is going down, brace for impact!”

                The Orville jolted with force. Everything seemed to slow down, until there was nothing but silence…


	2. Chapter 2

                There was a warm feeling on his face. He opened his eyes and blinked. There was nothing but a warm white light around him. It took a moment to settle in, but when it did he shot up. He felt to see if he was still in one piece. He was no longer wearing his uniform; he was dress in a white long sleeve shirt and white pants.

                _Where am I?_ Ed thought. _Where’s everybody? I’m not on the Orville anymore…Oh God I’m dead aren’t I? Is this some sort of…_

                “Heaven?” A voice spoke up from behind him. Mercer turned to look to where the voice had come from.

                There were two men and a woman. They looked human, but their features seemed like a surreal perfection. They were dressed in white robes with gold and bronze accents, and golden laced crowns. They almost reminded him of the old ancient Greek mythology.

                “Who are you?” Ed demanded. “What is this place?”

                “We have no name and ‘this place’, well its ‘everywhere’ so to speak…” The three of them spoke in unison. “Captain Mercer, we have saved you. We saw that you and your crew were in trouble and we saved you.”

                Ed paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to respond next. “Okay…well that’s great and all but I should be on my way. Nearest exit would be?” Ed looked around for a possible way out. White was all he could see.

                “We are offering transcendence, an existence beyond pain, beyond a body, beyond a mind. Enlightenment my friend.”

                The fact that they spoke together was a very unsettling.

                “That’s really impressive, the whole talking at the same time thing. Have you considered taking that on the road?” Ed said sarcastically.

                “This is not a joke Captain. We are offering salvation. We can save your crew. We can save you, were offering nirvana, a utopia.”

                Something about how they spoke worried him. Ed knew something wasn’t quite right. “I thought I was already ‘saved’. Now I’m not? And speaking of my crew, where the hell are they? Aren’t they supposed to be saved as well?”

               “Nothing is absolute. A choice has to be made.”

               “So I have a choice? That would be again?”

               “If you choose not to be saved and go back you will suffer the consequences.”

                “Consequences?” Ed scoffed. Now he knew something was up. “You see, I don’t like the idea of being threatened by the people, ‘beings’, whatever the hell you are, that say they’re going to ‘save me’. So if I don’t take what you are offering, then what? I die? My crew dies? That doesn’t add up.”

                “I see you’ve already made your mind up Captain. Very well.”

                “Damn right I have…wait, what?” Ed looked at the group.

                “This choice is yours alone…” The group said as Ed was knocked backwards by an unknown force, the light disappeared around him into shadows. Then there was nothing…


	3. Chapter 3

There was darkness, alarms slowly echoed into life in his ears. His heartbeat throbbing in his head. His mind raced as panic set in. His eyes shot open. He was lying on the floor of the control room of the Orville. The only light was from the emergency lights, which casted the room in an eerie red glow. _Why did they go with red for emergency lights?_ He briefly wondered. It was cold. He could see his breath. He was breathing so heavily it created a cloud in front of him. Pain shot through his chest and body. Then he remembered that the Orville was going down, or rather it went down. He needed to get up. He rolled to his side. It felt like every part of his being was broken. He struggled to his feet. He stumbled catching himself from falling on a command chair. He looked around to see the damage to the control room. Then he saw the bodies, the bodies of his crew, his friends. Kelly was on the ground next to where he had just gotten up from. He let himself drop down to her side.

                “Kel.” He called searching for a pulse.  “Come on Kel, don’t do this.” He was hoping for a sign of life.


	4. Chapter 4

                 “I hear someone calling my name.” Kelly recalled in the eerie white place that she was in. The three others in white robes that were there seemed unpleased. They had offered her salvation.

                “Until you decide, you’re still connected to your body.” The group said in unison trying to play off the calling. “You must free yourself of your past in order to truly be saved.”

                Her name repeated. She recognized the voice.

                “It’s Ed. He’s still alive!” Kelly knew deep down something wasn’t right with the situation.

                “Don’t be foolish.” The group warned.

                She took a step back. “No. I want to go back. Now! If he’s still alive that means there still hope...”

 

* * *

 

                His efforts to bring her back seemed to no avail. Ed’s head sunk down into his chest. His body felt numb.

                Then there was an audible gasp in front of him. Kelly breathed back into life. Ed’s eyes lit up at the sight. Kelly struggled to a sitting position, moving her hair from her face. She looked around trying to get her own bearings. A gentle hand was placed on her shoulder. She turned toward where the hand came from, startled.

                “Hey, hey.” Ed said motioning her to calm down. She sighed, relieved to see a welcomed familiar face. Without another word she closed her eyes hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her. The warmth of the hug offset the cold in the room, giving comfort and reassurance. They both let go. They collected themselves, Kelly looked around. Her face fell.

                “Oh my God…” She said seeing the devastation to the control room and the bodies of the crew. She scrambled to her feet. She stumbled a little. Ed rose up quickly to give support.

                “Slow down. We were just in a crash.” Ed reminded. “I mean, there goes our deductible…”

                “This is not a time to be joking.” Kelly was not happy with the latter statement. Ed sighed walking over to where Chief LaMarr and Lieutenant Malloy were. He checked their pluses. Kelly ran over to where Bortus and Alara were and did the same.

                “Come on guys, wake up.” Ed tried gently shaking the two men awake.

                Bortus head shot up. Kelly stumbled back and let out a small scream. Ed looked in her direction and realized the situation, the returning his efforts to waking up the crew.

                “Commander, my apologies.” Bortus realized he had startled the Commander.

                “It’s fine Bortus. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

                “What about the others?” Bortus could see the devastation of the control room, finding the answer. “I will assist with helping Lieutenant Kitan.”

                Kelly nodded heading back over to where Ensign Jacoby and Isaac were.

                Ed was finally able to get a response from the Navigator and Helmsman.

                Malloy’s head was resting against the control panel. Blood was dripping from the side of his head. The glass panel shattered. He groaned and blinked slowly as he regained consciousness. The sound of him lifting his head from the panel sounded like sandpaper and glass wind chimes as pieces of glass fell to the floor.

                “Remind me to never go on drinking binge again…” Gordon said lifting a hand to his head, wiping some of the blood away.

                John lifted his head from the control panel. His head had been resting against his left arm which took most of the impact. He lifted his arm from the panel. Pain shot through it.

                “Well while you’re doing that, I’m going to formally complain to the Union about safety on our ships. I mean come on.” John’s arm was badly cut up from the shattered control panel as well. There was a large piece of glass sticking out of it. He carefully pulled it out, wincing in pain.

                “Welcome back.” Ed said with a small smile, patting the two men on the shoulders.

                “Ow.” Gordon said quietly.

                “Lieutenant Kitan, wake up.” Bortus said gently shaking the Lieutenant. Alara coughed a few time and then came to.

                “What happened?” Alara asked her whole body ached. Most things did not faze her, but thing time was different.

                Kelly tried to get a response from Ensign Jacoby to no gain. Ed looked to her, she shook her head. Ed’s head fell. Kelly moved to Isaac.

                “Isaac.” She started unsure how to wake the AI being. Isaac’s eyes flickered into life, glowing their familiar blue.

                “Commander, you’re alive.” Isaac stated. Kelly was unsure if Isaac meant that in a caring way or was just surprised. Either way she was glad that he was okay.

                “Yeah we’re still alive…” Kelly looked to the fallen crew member. Isaac turned in the direction as well. “Well most of us.”

                “I assume that they have fallen to the fantasy.” Isaac analyzed.

                “Fantasy?” Ed asked.

                “I take it you experienced a strange…dream as well?” Isaac inquired.

                “Was it the one in the creepy white room?” Gordon asked still holding his head.

                “Indeed.”

                “And those creepy people offering ‘salvation’?” John scoffed.

                “Wait you saw that too?” Alara chimed in.

                “This seems highly illogical.” Bortus confirmed. “But I too had a similar experience.”

                “What happened to us?” Kelly looked from the others to Ed.

                “I don’t know.” Ed was trying to process the information. “What I do know is we need to see who else on board is still alive.”


	5. Chapter 5

                As the crew made their way out of the bridge, they were hit with a blast of icy air. They all shivered. Ed put his hands underneath his armpits.

                “Damn, it’s cold as balls in here.” John said grabbing at his jacket, as his warm breath made clouds as he spoke.

                “I think mind already froze.” Gordon pointed out. The others looked at him questionably.

                “Why is it so cold?” Alara asked shaking in the cold air.

                “Perhaps it has to do with the planet we crashed on?” Bortus offered seeming somewhat unfazed by the cold.

                “And the fact that our auxiliary power in failing.” John pointed out as the emergency lights dimmed. “At least it has an atmosphere, with the damage that the Orville took, if it didn’t, we’d all be dead by now.”

                “We need to pan out, find the rest of the crew.” Ed began, trying to fight the cold’s affects. “And can someone please find a heater. I’d hate to explain why we started a fire in the ship on purpose.”

                “I’ll check on Yaphit and the Engine room crew. I’ll see if we route some emergency power so we can get some heat back on at least to the main parts of the ship.” John turned to Isaac. “I could use an extra hand or two.”

                “I would like to help Commander, but unfortunately I am at a disadvantage. I was more damaged in the crash than I realized. My scanners are failing and will need some repairing myself.”

                “Well it still wouldn’t hurt to have you around.”

                “If you think it would be helpful, then I will join.”

                “Let’s go.” John and Isaac left for the engine room.

                “I need to check on Klyden and Topa.” Bortus realized hoping that his mate and son were okay.

                “Go.” Kelly immediately replied, letting the Commander check up on his family. She then turned back to Ed, Alara, and Gordon, shaking in the cold. “That just leaves us. We should find Doctor Finn, to see if she’s okay and if we need to locate Ty and Marcus.”

                “Damn, Mr. Whiskers.” Gordon remembered.

                “Really? You still have that cat?” Ed said disapproval.

                “You said I could keep it.”

                “Alright you can check on the way to Sick Bay.” Ed gave in as he ushered the group toward the Medical Bay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those keeping track, there is a reference to 'Mr. Whiskers' in this story. It does take place after my other Orville short story "The Feline Dilemma". If you haven't checked it out here it is: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12883422


	6. Chapter 6

                 As they made their way down the corridors bodies of various other crew members were strewn about. Some still alive, trying to help the others, and others who were unresponsive and possibly dead. The crew checked in along the way.

                “This is bad.” Gordon said assessing the situation before them. Kelly looked to Ed. He seemed lost in thought.

                “I know that look. What are you thinking?” Kelly looked to the Captain. He remained silent. “Ed?”

                “I don’t know.” Ed stopped momentarily to address Kelly’s question. “I just don’t know. None of this makes any sense.”

                “We’ll figure it out and pull through like we always do.” Kelly tried to offer reassurance.

                “Tell that to the crew members that we’ve already lost, let alone the ones we don’t know about.” Ed tried to keep calm.

                “That may be true but we need to focus on the ones that are still alive, and have a fighting chance. We can handle this.” Kelly said with a much confidence as she could. Even she had some doubts on how they would get out of this situation. They continued on their way to the Medical Bay. Outside they rendezvoused with Bortus who had found Klyden and Topa safe. With them in tow were Ty and Marcus. They were with them wrapped in blankets. Ty had Mr. Whiskers in hand.

                “You’re all okay.” Kelly was relieved. Ed let out a sigh of relief.

                “Indeed Commander. We thought this would be a good place to meet back up.” Bortus acknowledged. The Medical Bay doors were partially open. Alara wedged them open so they could enter. There was chaos in the Bay. Moaning, crying, yelling, and screaming echoed through the Bay. The medical staff were treating what they could with what limited supplies they had. With emergency power going in and out their key medical equipment was down. Nurse Henry Park acknowledged the group, which alerted Doctor Claire Finn to their presence. She saw Ty and Marcus safe.

                “My God you’re all okay.” Doctor Finn said running over and hugging her two sons.

                “Mommy, I’m scared.” Ty said in a small voice.

                “It’s going to be all right.”

                “That’s if we don’t freeze to death.” Marcus scoffed clutching his blanket closer.

                “What?” Ty grew wide eyed at the statement.

                “Marcus…” Claire warned.

                “Sorry.” Marcus gave in and turned to Ty. “Like mom said we’ll be okay. We got this.” He wrapped part of his blanket over the younger brother. Ty snuggled in for warmth with Mr. Whiskers in hand.

                “Good, now join Nurse Park and the others.”

                “Okay.” The boys said in unison finding a place to settle in.

                “Claire, how is…” Kelly began to ask. Doctor Finn led the Commander and Captain to the side.

                “I’m not going to sugar coat it. It’s bad. We’re running out of supplies. With the main power down none of regenerators are working. And to top it off, our dermal scanners are on the fritz.” Claire laid out the situation.

                “What do you mean the dermal scanners are on the fritz?” Kelly inquired.

                “They are only working intermediately. It’s strange. One moment they’re fine the next I can barely close a wound.” Claire then looked to the pair. “I take it this is not an isolated incident.”

                Ed and Kelly looked at one another. “We’re not sure yet, but yes it’s looking that way.” Ed admitted. “Right now Chief LaMarr and Isaac are headed to the Engine Room to see if they can transfer some of the auxiliary power to heat up this place.”

                The lights dimmed again.

                “That’s if there’s any power left to transfer.” Kelly acknowledged.

                “And getting heat is just one of many problems. Need I mention food and water?” Doctor Finn pointed out.

                “Alright, we need to check out where we landed.” Ed confirmed. “We need to know all viable options. I hate to think we would have to abandon ship, but you’re right, we need supplies.” With that he caught the attention of Bortus, Gordon and Alara. “Bortus, you’ve got command. Lieutenant Malloy, Lieutenant Kitan, you’re with us.” Ed said.

                “Aye sir.” Bortus nodded.

                “It looks like commutations are out. If we don’t return in an hour…”

                “We will be waiting for your return, Captain.” Bortus acknowledged.

                “And be careful.” Doctor Finn chimed in, in a soft tone. The group nodded.

                “Alright let’s go.” Kelly ushered the group out.


	7. Whistling Past Graveyards

                “Wait, are we seriously going to go out there?” Gordon asked.

                “Yeah, we are seriously going out there.” Ed shot back.

                “Am I the only one who realizes that we don’t have any gear? If we’re on some desolate, icy planet, wouldn’t we just end up freezing to death out there?”

                “Compared to freezing to death in here?”

                “Point taken.” Gordon conceded. “But what about weapons? What if there are locals that are not too happy with us here?”

                “That’s actually a good point.” Alara agreed. “We can try taking our guns but if there is something affecting our technology, we’ll be going in practically blind and unarmed.”

                “Yep.” Ed confirmed.

                “Ed.” Kelly warned.

                “What? What, do you want me to say? That yes, we are going in blind. We have pretty much nothing to go off of and nothing to defend ourselves with. So yeah there’s a good possibility that it’s a suicide mission.” Ed laid it out. He then closed his eyes and sighed. He realized what he had just said and shifted his tone to a quieter tone. “Listen I’m sorry, but there are a lot of what ifs. We won’t know until we’re out there. Until then we have to make the best of this. Everyone’s lives depend on it.”

                “Fair enough.” Gordon agreed.

                “Wait.” Kelly stopped the group.

                “What?” Ed asked.

“Gordon, did you put the gear away from your most recent simulator trip?”

                “Maybe.” Gordon said no sure where the conversation was going and if he was in trouble.

                “If you didn’t we may have something to work with.” Kelly smiled.

                “That’s right, there should be some warmer clothing and some things we could use a makeshift weapons.” Alara recalled as she remembered taking part in that particular simulation.

                “Then no I didn’t put that gear away.” Gordon beamed.

                “Where is it?” Kelly asked.

“Storage room, just around the corner.” Gordon pointed. Ed approached the door and opened it. Gear piled out.

                “Really?” Ed looked to the Lieutenant.

                “Uh, Sorry.” Gordon smiled nervously. Most of the items were useless but luckily the group was able to dig through and collect what they needed.

                “At least we have something.” Kelly admitted as the group made their way to the shuttle bay. As they arrived at the shuttle bay door, there was just enough power to open it. Bright light blinded them and a blast of icy air came in. They shielded their eyes against the harsh contrast. After blinking a few times Ed lowered his arm in which he use to block the blinding light.

                “That not good…” Ed looked out to where the Shuttle Bay once was. The room now opened up to a snowy landscape. Looking out onto the horizon he could see the top engine ring, or what was left of it. There was still part of the shuttle bay floor, but it was mostly covered in snow and ice. There was no telling where the bay floor began and where it ended.

                “We’re not getting off this planet anytime soon are we?” Gordon head sank.

                “We need to get down there.” Kelly pointed down what looked to be a road.

                “Yeah but how? Half the ship is now part of a snow covered mountain.” Gordon retorted.

                “I think I have an idea. I’ll be right back.” Alara took back off down the corridor and out of sight. She returned fairly quickly with a couple pieces of metal that had broken off from the crash. “Sledding anyone?”

* * *

 

                “I don’t like this idea.” Ed said as they were getting ready to push off.

                “What makes you say that?” Gordon’s head appeared from behind Ed’s shoulder. They were on one of the make-shift sleds and Kelly and Alara on the other. “I think it’s kind of nice.” Gordon continued. “Besides you don’t call me anymore.” Gordon jokingly said cuddling up to Ed. Kelly and Alara tried not to laugh.

                “Okay that’s it.” Ed got up from the sled. “Move.” He motioned for the Lieutenant to scoot forward.

                “Is that an order?” Gordon looked up at the Captain. In which, he shot back a look. “Alright, alright. I was just trying to lighten the mood.” Gordon complied and moved forward. Ed rejoined the Lieutenant.

                “Are we ready?” Kelly asked the group. They nodded. “Let’s go.”

                The girls pushed off first, finding a grove and following the down slope of the hill. They skidded to a stop at the base of the hill. The guys weren’t too far behind. The two of them quietly rejoiced. It was a lot more fun than they thought it would be, as did the guys. They got up from the sleds and brushed of the snow.

                “Freeze!” A voice called. The four of them stopped in their tracks. They slowly turned to the direction in which the command was spoken. There was a group of people with odd looking weapons.

                “Hey look, the welcoming committee.” Gordon said sarcastically as the group raised their hands.

                “Who are you?” The man hissed.

                “My name is Captain Ed Mercer, of the Planetary Union Ship the Orville. These are members of my crew. We were attacked and unfortunately crashed on your planet.” Ed stepped forward to explain. The group raised their weapons. “We mean you no harm.”

                “Your ‘ship’ killed one of our own.” The man point to where part of the ship landed. It had crushed a small shack like structure. Two legs peered under the rubble.

                “And I am truly sorry about that. We had no intention on hurting anyone.”

                “Tell that to the guy that the ship went full ‘Wizard of Oz’ on.” Gordon muttered. Kelly overheard and smacked him on the arm.

                “This ‘sorry’ isn’t good enough.” Another villager spoke up.

                “Ed I don’t like this.” Kelly warned. “We should go.”

                “Yeah I was just thinking the same thing.” Ed acknowledge knowing that things were taking a turn, and not for the better. Ed turned back to the group. “Well, we’d love to stay and chat, but I just remembered, we’ve got some place to be that isn’t here…”

                Just before Ed could finish and they could retreat back to the ship, a shot rang out. It knocked Mercer back onto the snowy road.

                “Ed!” Kelly ran to the fallen Captain, the shot grazed his arm, creating a good sized wound near his shoulder. Alara and Gordon pulled out their guns in response. They had little power left, effectively making them useless but they were hoping the villagers would not test their bluff. Kelly checked her dermal scanner. She was hoping there was enough power left to heal the wound. There was a flicker of power. “Fingers crossed.” She said. The scanner began to heal the wound. Ed gasped. The scanner worked long enough to heal the wound. Kelly helped Ed to his feet.

                “Gordon?” Alara asked.

                “Yeah?” Gordon replied

                “Do you see that rock up there?” Alara motioned with her head to the mountain parallel to where the Orville was.

                “Yeah?” Gordon acknowledged.

                “Count of three.”            

                “Got it.” Gordon knew what Alara was thinking.

                “One, Two…Three!” They both shot at the rock face to trigger a small avalanche, the villagers began to retreat. “Run!”

                The group ran back down the other way.

                “Bad idea, bad idea, bad idea.” Gordon yelled as the snow gained on their heels.

                The group managed to clear the avalanche of snow and ice. Unfortunately that was not the only thing that came of the event. As the group turned back to the sight, they could not believe what they saw.

                “Guys, please tell me you’re seeing what I’m seeing.” Gordon pointed out to the group.

                “No, it can’t be.” Kelly looked on at the sight.

                “I think we have a problem.” Ed confirmed as the group stood in the shadow of the newly revealed mountain face and terrain. With the snow cleared the mountain was no longer a rocky mountain…but a ship graveyard.


	8. Chapter 8

                “Aren’t those are some of the missing ships?” Alara pointed out.

                “Yes, but some of them are extremely old by the looks of it. Ships from years, decades, hell maybe even centuries ago.” Ed confirmed.

                “How is this possible?” Alara was concerned for their fate. “Do you think that someone is behind this?”

                “If someone is behind this they’ve got a lot of explaining to do.” Kelly chimed in.

                “But who would do something like this?” Alara continued.

                “The same person that would want to offer us salvation, then try to kill us?” Ed sarcastically said

                “Or maybe we got Odyssey’d.” Gordon suggested. This comment drew looks for the others.

                “You mean, like the song of the sirens?” Ed raised an eyebrow.

                “Exactly.” Gordon replied. This again drew a questionable look from the others. “What? I only remember that cuz it was the topic of one of my term papers that I may or may not have cheated on.”

                “That makes sense.” Kelly acknowledged.

                “What do we do now?” Alara asked.

                “We go up there.” Kelly pointed to where an orange glow offset the snowy white and reflected off the decayed silver panels of the ships.

               

* * *

 

                John and Isaac entered the engine room. It was surprisingly colder in the room than in the rest of the ship. There were a few engineers that were working hastily to maintain the auxiliary power. John caught a glimpse of two bodies that had been moved to the corner of the room. He adverted his eyes to the sight. _Damn._ He thought. _This is bad._

                “Chief LaMarr, Isaac. Glad you’re here.” Dann said hastily.

                “What’s going on?” John asked.

                “It’s been hell, sir. We’ve tried to keep the auxiliary power going, but I don’t know how much longer we can sustain it.” Dann admitted.

                “Where’s Yaphit?”

                “See for yourself.” Dann pointed to where the gelatinous lifeform was. Yaphit was frozen solid.

                “You’ve got to be kidding me.” John sighed. “Alright, we really need to get heat into the main rooms.”

                “That’s going to be easier said than done.” Dann acknowledged.

                “What do you mean? We still have auxiliary power. I think I can reroute and splice into some of the conduits to get us up in running.” John had a game plan in mind.

                “You could do that, only if something wasn’t interfering with our tools and the power.”

                “What?”

                “I can’t explain it. See for yourself.”

                John looked over the data reports. The screen kept glitching out. He checked over the tools. Some were completely dead, others were on their way out. John looked to Isaac and Dann. “I think we’ve got a bigger problem.”


	9. Chapter 9

                There was an uncovered walkway leading up to the opening. As the group made their way up the make shift mountain, thoughts raced in their minds.

                “I wonder where those villagers ran off to.” Kelly posed the situation.

                “Probably to regroup, you know, to get more people to throw a party for us.” Gordon sarcastically offered.

                “Funny.” Kelly was not amused by that statement. “Well where ever they went, it can’t be good.”

                “I find it very strange why they just let us go. The first instinct of those villagers wasn’t to run back to the mountain and after us, after the avalanche, they just ran away. So either they didn’t know that opening existed or they know to stay away from it.” Ed agreed with Kelly’s assessment of the situation.

                “What do you think is in there?” Alara threw out the question.

                “Better question is why you automatically assumed what’s up there isn’t a ‘who’.” Kelly pointed out looking over her shoulder as they slowed to a stop just outside the opening. Ed peered around the corner. There was a large stone room with metal paneling along the sides, lit by fire wall sconces.

                “Wow nice place they go here. All it needs is a little color, might help brighten up the walls.” Gordon interjected.

                “Gordon, cut the crap.” Ed turned and hushed the Lieutenant. Before Gordon could say another word, Ed stopped him. “And that’s an order.”

                “Aye, sir.” Gordon said softly. The carefully entered the cave.

* * *

 

                “After careful evaluation I have found the issue. I thought my scanners were damaged. I believe that was not the case.” Isaac admitted, seeming to have finished his self diagnostic. “I was able to filter and isolate a rogue frequency.”

                “What are you saying?”

                “My scanners and sensors were being what you would refer to as ‘jammed’. I’m detecting a broad spectrum of electromagnetic energy. It would appear to be the reason why our technology is no longer working properly, what made the Orville crash in the first place and quite possibly why we experienced that ‘dream’.”

                “But why would someone do that?”

                “I am intrigued Commander why you assume it is a person.”

                “Well, what else could it be?”

                “I do not know. But judging what my scanners are picking up, there is a natural level of electromagnetic energy native to the planet.”

                “Well, it doesn’t mean that someone isn’t using it to their advantage. Maybe they found a way to beef it up. I mean let’s talk about that ‘dream’. That seemed like a deliberate deception. Just on that, it’s safe to assume someone was behind it until proven otherwise.” John continued. “Well now that you’re back up and running, do you think you can find a way to filter some interference? We’ve got a frozen Yaphit and a whole crew freezing to death on the line if we can’t get this worked out.”

                “I believe so.” Isaac confirmed. “I will have to connect to the main panel. From there I do believe I can filter out the main frequency that is causing the most damage.”

                “There are probably a lot of broken relays and power conduits. It could cause a power back up.”

                “I understand the risk. I will assess what is available and establish a safe connection.”

                “Alright let’s do this.” John said rubbing his hands together.

 

* * *

 

                “Wow there is…nothing here.” Alara said as they entered a larger cavernous room. It had multiple rock faces with metal paneling over some parts.

                “Well there are a lot of torches in this place for a whole lot of nothing.” Ed confirmed.

                “Maybe, they were part of the villager group.” Kelly offered, looking over the walls.

                “I doubt it.” Ed said knocking a knuckle against a large metal panel on the far side of the room. It made a metal ‘ting’. There was a moment of silence as he began to walk away when from behind the panel a ‘ting’ echoed back. Ed quickly spun around on his heels. “Uh, did anyone else hear that?”

                Kelly, Alara and Gordon nodded back in unison. Ed faced the wall and knocked on it again, this time in 3 small knocks. Again there was silence. He turned back to the others a shrugged only to be caught off guard by three louder knocks from behind the panel. He stumbled backwards.

                “So, I’m guessing we’re not alone.” Gordon pointed out quietly.

                “No…well maybe…” Ed’s mind raced with thoughts. He approached the panel again and ran his fingers along an exposed edge. “Hey Alara, mind giving me a hand here?”

                Alara walked over to where the captain was. She ran her fingers along the edge to see if she could get a grasp of the panel.

                “Wha-wha-t are you doing?” Gordon asked anxiously. Alara too, was somewhat hesitant. They did not know what was behind the panel. Alara closed her eyes and carefully pulled back the panel. It revealed another cavernous room, this time pitch black. A rush of icy air seeped out.

                “Right that’s not creepy at all.” Gordon could feel an uneasy feeling building up.

                “There’s nothing in there…”  Kelly began as a shadowy figure passed just outside her peripheral vision. “What was that?” Kelly turned to follow the sight.

                “What was what?” Ed asked.

                “You didn’t see that?” Kelly replied as the torches dimmed and came back to life.

                “What did you see?” Alara inquired.

                “Something exited out of there. I saw it out of the corner of my eye.”

                “Okay I think we should regroup. We’re probably running close to our hour check in. Let’s head back to the Orville…” Ed confirmed ushering the group to the exit. They stopped dead in their tracks. A dark shadowy figure loomed in the corridor to the exit.

                “Uh-oh.” Gordon gulped.


End file.
